Old People

I wish to post two articles here that show examples (though slightly unverified) of people living to extreme ages. There have been many examples of longevity and many supercentenarians in history.

Take for example – Shivapuri Baba, also known as Swami Govindanath Bharati from India. He lived to the age of 137, from 1826-1963. He had 18 audiences with Queen Victoria. He met with President Theodore Roosevelt. But I degress… the articles, if you please…

Fatima Mohammed al-Hamdani, a 128 year-old woman died today in Yemen, making her the oldest centenarians not only in the country but the region. She was married twice and had four daughters and one son.

Her eldest daughter is now 77. Fatima al-Hamdani had more than 90 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. According to Jihad Yahya Aiadh, one of her grandsons, Fatima used to walk every day until 4 years ago when her health confined her to her house.

She used to sell sweets and candies to children. According to family members, she was always very particular about having her breakfast at 6 O’clock sharp, as she considered it was the most important meal of the day.

They added that she only ate lamb whenever she was eating meat as it was her favorite. “As far as I remember, she never ate anything from the streets or restaurants and all her food was based on organic products.

” The old lady who was born in Sana’a was well known for her independent spirit as all her life she only relied on herself and her work ethic to provide for her family.

By buying small cheap merchandize she was able to generate an income, walking often for long hours.

According to another of her grandsons, Mohammed al-Siri, she never took any medicine such as pills or syrups adding that all of her medications were based on herbs and traditional remedies. “She did not eat chicken or any another sorts of meat, only lamb.

She witnessed many things in the history of Yemen and was even alive during the Ottomans occupation,” said al-Siri. The family refused to hand out a picture of Fatima, saying it went against the family traditions, adding that it wasn’t proper for women in Yemen to uncover their faces to strangers.

All Fatima’s neighbors agreed that she was a lovely, sociable lady who will be missed dearly as she always was so kind to her community.

Maybe most interestingly yet, Fatima gave birth to her last child at the age of 55, which in Yemen is extremely rare and rather unconventional. Last but not least Fatima outlived four generations of her family, as her daughter had herself a daughter who had a daughter who is now married; leaving behind great great grandchildren.

Also of note is the recent article out of China documenting a 126 year old woman –

NAME: LUO MEIZHEN, BORN 1885, CHINA, AGE 126 AS OF NOV 2011, STILL ALIVE

Bejjing, Nov. 8 (People’s Daily Online) – As of July 1, 2011 in China – excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan – the number of living centenarians has reached nearly 48,000, increasing by more than 5,000 people compared with the year before and at a growth rate of more than 10 percent, according to Chinese Society of Gerontology.

On Nov. 7, China’s oldest living person and China’s oldest living couple were named in the fourth of China’s Top 10 Longest-living Persons held in Rudong village in Jiangsu Province, which is known as the Town of Longevity in China.

Luo Meizhen (Luo Mei Zhen), an elderly person (a woman) from Bama Yao Autonomous County of Guangzi Zhuang Autonomous Region, took the top spot among China’s Top 100 Longest-living Persons with an age of 126 years old.

Yan Shengzhing and his wife Yang Jinshi, a couple from Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, took the top spot of China’s Top 10 Longest-living Couples with a combined age of 213 years.

The average life expectancy in China is 73.5 years and the country’s 12th Five-Year Program endeavors to increase that figure by one year over the next five years.

And lastly, for the moment… is the story from India, of a man who is marrying at age 125!

NAME: PARASRAM GURJAR, BORN 1886, INDIA, AGE 125 AS OF NOV 2011, STILL LIVING

He may be the oldest man alive in India. If Parasram Gurjar’s family tree is to be believed, he is a good 125 years old. He is a resident of Talkesri village in Hoshangabad district, 70 km from here.

His family has no scientific proof of his age, but his 45-year-old grandson Hakam Singh Gurjar claimed that their ‘vanshawali’ or family tree mentioned Parasram’s age as 22 years in 1908. According to that, he was born in 1886.

On World Elders’ Day Oct 1 the Madhya Pradesh government conferred on the old man the Shatayu Samman. He was among eight people felicitated for attaining the age of more than 100 years.

“The medical Board of Madhya Pradesh has certified he is more than 90 years old. However, it could not provide a certificate for his age exceeding 90 years,” said Hakam.

“We have written to union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for making arrangements for verification of age of older people. Besides, we have applied to the Guinness World Records,” he said.

Parasram is quite fit, has no ailment, and does most of his daily chores by himself.

Parasram is an agriculturist by profession.

“He is perfectly healthy though he is a little hard of hearing. Except for being affected by pneumonia recently, he has never fallen ill. He has no ailments. He is physically capable and does most of his daily chores by himself,” Hakam said.

Parasram moves comfortably with the help of a stick and can eat just about everything. The day this correspondent met him, he was eating kachoris with youngsters at Coffee House in Bhopal.

His only surviving son Mohanlal is now 75 years old. His three other sons and a younger daughter are no more. His family consists now of 14 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Assuming a date, on Aug 10 every year Parasram’s birthday is celebrated by his family. He does not take old age pension from the government as he feels the amount is too meagre.

The self-claimed supercentenarian said about his longevity: “Apart from a proper diet, the only thing that has kept me going is hard work. I am really saddened that today’s generation is much weaker and is not hardworking.”

There may be a confusion regarding his actual age, but even now Parasram is clear on what he wishes to do.

“I want to have an organisation to make people aware and stop female foeticide,” he said. – IANS

Emperor Jimmu of Japan, 126 years

The reason I post these is to show that healthy long life is very possible. True, not probable, but possible. I also do this to show examples of people who lived to biblical ages. Jacob lived to be 147. His son Levi lived to be 137. Job lived 140 years past his trying ordeal to an unknown age, Moses (15th century BC) lived to be 120 years old. His brother Aaron lived 123 years. Joseph (17th century BC) and Joshua (15th century BC) both lived to be 110. It is not necessary to scoff at such ages. The advisor Jehoiada lived 130 years. Secular literature and histories have centenarians being possibly more common-place than today. The founder of Japan, the 7th-century BC Emperor Jimmu lived to be 126 years old.